November the 6th, 2025 – Veterans Minister Tomo Medved has stated how Jean-Michel Nicolier gave his life and his heart for Croatia as his funeral at 13:00 approaches.
As HRT reports, Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said at the Memorial Cemetery of Victims of the Homeland War in Vukovar that Croatia as a whole is bidding farewell to the incredibly selfless and heroic Jean-Michel Nicolier, a veteran and French volunteer who, with his sacrifice, has entered into the pages of Croatian history forever.
“Today, at the Memorial Cemetery in Vukovar, we’re sending off the remains of Jean-Michel Nicolier, a Croatian veteran, a volunteer, a man who came from France and made himself available to Croatia. He was not born in Croatia, but he gave his heart and his life to Croatia. Shoulder to shoulder with all the other Croatian veterans, he defended Vukovar. Wounded, although he had the opportunity to leave the besieged city, he stayed here and shared the fate until his very last moments on this Earth with all the other wounded and employees of the Vukovar Hospital. Brutally tortured, he was murdered at Ovčara,” said Medved.
He added that today Croatia is saying goodbye to Nicolier with immense gratitude.
“With gratitude for everything he did for Croatia, we all thanking him for everything, for all his love that he gave to the Croatian people and to the Croatian state,” Minister Medved said.
He also recalled Nicolier’s poignant words, which, he said, are still deeply present in the hearts and minds of all Croatian people today – “Croatia and Vukovar are my choice, for better or for worse.”
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